Preservation Week 2019

Do you have precious books, letters, diaries, photographs, prints and drawings, or objects like maps, paintings, quilts, baptismal gowns, ceramic vases, sets of china, silverware, or pieces of furniture that you hope others will love in 50 years as much as you do now? Multiply the number of items in your possession by the number of people in your neighborhood, this county, this state, etc.  The obvious conclusion is that an enormous number of culturally significant items held by individuals, families, and communities are in need of basic preservation. 

As the Library system’s special local history collection and archives, we preserve materials in the Beaufort District Collection (BDC) each and every day. Our highest priority is to be good stewards of the cultural heritage materials entrusted to us for the community. Part of being a good steward is sharing our knowledge about preservation practices. We want to empower you to better protect your own treasures.  The BDC promotes Preservation Week to highlight what we can do, individually and together, to preserve our personal and shared collections.

In other words, Preservation Week inspires actions to preserve personal, family, and community collections in addition to library, museum, and archive collections. It also raises awareness of the role libraries and other cultural institutions play in providing ongoing preservation education and information

Preservation can get complicated because different materials require different conditions and treatments. Nevertheless, some general principles can mitigate a host of potential problems. For example, if you're not comfortable sitting in your attic on a hot July afternoon, neither are your family treasures.  Never store items in environments where you would be too hot, too cold, or find too damp to hang out in for a day or two.

The unholy trinity of degradation, that is, heat, light, and humidity, must be closely monitored and managed to minimize natural decay of materials. A simple practice of keeping lights at the lowest level sufficient for the job at hand can actually slow down the rate of decay.  Humidity, always a concern in coastal South Carolina, must be controlled to prevent mold growth, corrosion, drying and cracking, warping, buckling and/or flaking of precious material.  Proper storage matters – a lot!  

Preservation Week lets us share some general principles of preservation that can mitigate a host of potential problems.  

• This year we are handing out packets of preservation information to anyone who comes to the Research Room and asks. 
• While you're in the Research Room, check out Kristi's display in our cabinet. 
• Check out our daily Facebook posts about preservation steps and webinars anyone can take to improve your knowledge about preservation of particular formats of materials.  
• Send your questions about basic preservation techniques to bdc@bcgov.net.